Cloth-distributer.



G. W. FRENCH, 1R.

CLOTH DISTRIBUTER. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 30. 19M.

1,28%,U1 Y4, Patented July 3, 1917.

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W I TNESSES: IN VEN TOR.

W ATTORNEY.

G. W. FRENCH, JR. CLOTH DISTRIBUTER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 30, 1914..

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WITNESSES.- @2. f L /mm j ZW/am ATTORNEY.

GEORGE W. FRENCH, JR., OF'DANVERS, MASSACHUSETTS.

GLOTH-DISTRIBUTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 3, 11911 t.

Application filed November 30, 1914. SeriaI No. 874,941.

1 '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnonen W. Fnnnorr, J12, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Danvers, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cloth- Distributers, of which the following is a specification.

The object of the present invention is to provide a distributing apparatus for laying cloth in bits in which the cloth is to be soaked in a dye, or a bleaching solution, or a washing solution, or in fact in any liquor which may be useful in the treatment of the cloth. It is to be understood that the apparatus with which my invention is concerned acts upon finished cloth in the web. The primary purpose of the apparatus is to distribute the cloth in zigzag plaits in such a way that after the treatment in the pit is completed it may be-withdrawn without be- A ing snarled and without being tied into knots. The particular object of the invention is to provide a simple mechanism which will give the leader, or guide, through which.

the cloth is conducted in the distributing a back and forth movement intwo directions at right angles to each other with automat1c reversals at the end of eaclrmovement and of. reversing consist will be fully understood from the description following in connection with the drawings. In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a plan view of a distributing mechanism or distributer containing the form of the invention which at the present time I consider to be preferable to others.

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the distributer over the pit in which the cloth is laid for the required treatment.

Fig. 3 is an isometric view of the distributer.

Fig. 4 represents a sectional view of one of the travelers and a perspective view of the yoke associated therewith to enter the threads of the screw.

In the drawings A A A A represent four shafts arranged in the form of the sides of a rectangle and geared together at three corners of the rectangle by miter gears B--B, B-B. A pulley F of one of the shafts serves to receive the motive power through a belt, which power is transmitted to all of the shafts in unison.

For the purpose of this description the four shafts shown may be considered as two pans of shafts, each two which form opposite sides of the rectangle being one pair. On each shaft is mounted a traveler C, the two travelers on opposite shafts constituting a pair and those of each pair being eon nected by spacing rods D D. The rods of one pair of travelers cross those of the other pair and form a rectangular inclosure. A spout or leader E passes through this rectangular space and is embraced by all four of the rods D. The leader E is hung by a gimbal oint Gr adjacent to a guide roll 1-1 over which the cloth is laid. By virtue of this gimbal joint the delivery end of the leader may be swung in any direction so as to follow the different movements of the travelers and guide rods.

The shafts A have grooves I, I formed on opposite inclinations and crossing one another, thus constituting in efiect crossed threads which are jointed together adjacent to the ends of the shafts. The travelers or followers C are all alike, and one oft-hem is shown in detail on an enlarged scale in Fig.4. In construction the follower is essentially -a sleeve surrounding and adapted to slide on one of the shafts; It contains a yoke J curved to conform to the shaft at the base of the grooves'or threads and other- 'wlse of such dnnenslons as to fit freely in such grooves. It has a stem or stud J which occupies a socket in the follower and forms a swivel whereby the yoke may swing as required in passing from one groove to the oppositely inclined groove at the points where such grooves merge into one another. The crossed threads of the shafts cause their respective followers to travel back and forth from end to end and to reverse directions of movement when arriving at each end of their travel, because the thread I, for instance, which drives the follower in one direction merges at its end into the thread I, extending 1n the opposite direction, so that the follower passes from the influence of the thread I to that of the thread I and the reverse, at each end of the travel, without shock and without necessitating any change in direction or speed of rotation of the shaft. The distributer device is placed over the mouth of a pit one another of the carriers which are for-med by the two pairs of nuts C and the coupling rods D. As one pair of shafts travels at a higher speed than the other pair, as is indicated by the dilference in diameter of the gears B of each couple, the cloth which issues from the leader is led in long zigzags which .pile up on one another in successive layers.

lVhen cloth is laid in this zigzag manner, theadjacent and contacting plaits are so inclined to one another .that there is no possibility of them being twisted and carried about one another inanysuch way as would cause snarls, wherefore the cloth may be readily withdrawn from the pit after the treatment to which it is subjected in the pit has been completed.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A cloth distributer comprising a leader movable in any direction, two carriers movable in directions transverse to one another each engaged with the leaderand both .being simultaneously moved, whereby to give the leader motions which are resultants of those of both carriers, and threaded shafts for moving the carriers, said shafts having crossed threads which merge into one an other at the ends of the shafts, whereby the carriers are reversed at each end of their travel without necessitating change in the direction or speed of rotation of the shafts.

2. A cloth distributer comprising crossthreaded screw shafts arranged on the four sides of a rectangle and geared to rotate in unison, a nut carried by each screw and caused by the cross threads thereof to re verse its direction of motion at each end of its travel, tie members connecting the nuts on opposite sides of the rectangle together, each pair of nuts and their tie members forming a carrier, and a leader for cloth engaged simultaneously by both carriers and moved thereby in directions which form the resultants of the simple movements of the carriers.

3. A cloth distributer comprising guides for acloth web one of said guides being movable in a direction substantially at right angles to the other, and both acting on the web at the same time, and screw shafts arranged to operate said guides, said shafts having crossed threads which emerge into one another at the endsof-the shafts, whereby the carriers are reversed at each end of their travel without necessitating change in the direction or speed of rotation of the shafts.

4:. A cloth distributer comprising a plurality of guides, one of which is movable back .and forth in a path transverse to the other, and both of which act simultaneously to control the direction of feed of the cloth, and means for continuously moving said guides in their appointed paths and automatically reversing their motion, the re sultant of the motions of said guides being the lines in which plaits of cloth are laid.

Intestimony whereof I have afiixed my signature, in presence of two Witnesses.

GEORGEW. FRENCH, JR.

Vitnesses ARTHUR H. BROWN, 1?. W. Pnzzn'rrr.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Iatents.

' Washington, I). C. 

